Birds provide an accurate and easy-to-read environmental barometer, allowing us to see clearly the pressures our current way of life are
putting on the world’s biodiversity," said Mike Rands, chief executive of the alliance of conservation groups.
In Asia, the report said, populations of white-rumped vultures that numbered in the millions 16 years ago have crashed by 99.9%. In Europe, 45% of common birds are declining;
Experts cite industrial-scale agriculture and fishing, the spread of invasive species, logging and the replacement of national forest with
monoculture plantation, as well as climate change, as major factors in
the populations’ decline.
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